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State Patrol's historical timeline

In addition to the following events, the Wisconsin State Patrol
has responded to statewide and local emergencies and natural
disasters, crimes, crashes, and other law enforcement and public
safety incidents that are too numerous to mention.

Governor Julius Heil appointed Colonel George Rickeman
as the first commissioner of the Motor Vehicle Department. In
turn, Commissioner Rickeman appointed Homer G. Bell as the
director of the Inspection and Enforcement Division with
supervision of 46 inspectors, who previously staffed five
different agencies in various state departments.

The inspectors were authorized to enforce the state’s motor
vehicle code and motor carrier regulations. They were paid $180
month. They used their own vehicles but were supplied with a
siren, flashing red lights, police license plate and official
door shield. They also received $30 a month for gasoline, oil
and lubricants.

The officers were the official Motor Vehicle Department
representative in their assigned counties and a large part of
their time was devoted to non-enforcement duties such as giving
driver’s license tests and taking vehicle registration
applications.

1940-1949

The Legislature in 1941 restricted the number of agency
personnel to 55 and labeled them "traffic officers" for the
first time.

During World War II, traffic officers escorted
military convoys and maintained smooth and safe traffic flows in
the vicinity of Camp McCoy and the munitions plant near
Baraboo. They also escorted caravans of celebrities selling war
bonds around the state.

As a result of the war efforts, the agency’s field
headquarters moved to the Badger Ordnance complex near Baraboo
in 1941.

Officers had no communications equipment in their vehicles.
In emergencies, radio station WIZR at the Badger Ordnance plant
would broadcast an alert. The officers would then have to find a
nearby phone to contact headquarters for instructions.

A private telephone line to the Motor Vehicle Department
provided a 24-hour, direct link between the field headquarters
and Madison for driver’s license and vehicle registration
information.

When Badger Ordnance closed in 1945, the agency’s
headquarters were moved to the lower level of the state office
building at 1 West Wilson Street in Madison.

New communications stations were installed in Delafield,
Hayward, Irma and Waukesha in 1946.

Communications improved with the creation of an FM radio
station called WWCF east of Baraboo in 1947. The station allowed
the agency to use its 654-foot tower for a communications
center. The site also had living and office quarters and
remained the central dispatch point until 1955.

The Baraboo site was linked to the agency’s radio console
station at Lapham Peak near Delafield in 1948. The
communications system consisted of seven base stations with
control centers at Baraboo, Hayward, Tomahawk, DePere and Black
River Falls.

To keep speedometers on officers’ vehicles accurate, a
Fifth-Wheel Trackmaster was used. The trackmaster was a large
bicycle-type wheel that attached to the bumper and accurately
measured the vehicle’s speed.

1950-1959

The state began buying and equipping squad cars and
assigning them to individual officers in 1951.

The agency devised an experiment in 1952 using a borrowed
radar unit to determine if the new technology was useful for
speed limit enforcement. The first official use of radar
by the agency was at an intersection in Hales Corner in 1953,
and this new technology created great excitement.

The death toll from traffic crashes in 1955 climbed to more
than 900. To reduce traffic fatalities, state officials
including Governor Walter Kohler backed legislation to increase
the number of officers to 250. The duties of the officers also
became even more focused on traffic safety enforcement.

Lawrence Beier, director of the Motor Vehicle Department’s
Enforcement Division, negotiated a two-year contract with the
Northwestern University Traffic Institute in 1955 to operate a
training academy at Camp McCoy. The first class of 48 officers
graduated from the academy on December 29, 1955. Camp McCoy was
chosen for the academy because it offered barracks, classrooms
and a mess hall along with roads for driver training and crash
investigation classes.

The agency began issuing firearms and provided firearm
training to officers in 1955.

The Legislature in 1955 authorized an increase in the number
of officers from 70 to 250.

The agency added Harley-Davidson motorcycles to its fleet in
1956. The motorcycles provided greater mobility through heavy
traffic.

The first Breathalyzers were purchased in 1956 to detect
drivers’ alcohol consumption. (Eventually, the agency’s Chemical
Testing Section assumed statewide responsibility for testing and
certifying this type of equipment to measure drivers’ alcohol
levels.)

At the end of the contract with the Northwestern University
Traffic Institute, agency staff assumed responsibility for the
training program at the academy in 1957.

The Legislature in 1957 authorized an additional group of 70
motor carrier inspectors to relieve officers from duties at the
stationary scales and to assist in administrative
investigations. Inspectors enforced truck weight, equipment and
licensing regulations. They were authorized to wear a
distinctive brown and green uniform in 1959.

The agency took to the air with officers as pilots in 1958.
Highway pavement was marked in one-eighth of a mile segments. By
timing vehicles with a stop watch, officers in the plane could
determine the speed and relay the information to officers on the
ground for enforcement action.

1960-1969

The Legislature in 1961 provided officers with limited
authority to make arrests for criminal violations committed in
their presence on highways.

The number of authorized inspectors was increased from 70 to
83 by the Legislature in 1963.

The agency’s central headquarters moved to the Hill Farms
State Office Building in Madison in 1964.

The central dispatch function was divided between two
communications centers located in Wausau and Madison in 1964.

In 1965, the agency’s black and gray cruisers were replaced
with dark blue vehicles which had a white roof, trunk and
door. A red, white and blue shield was displayed on the front
doors.

The traffic safety officer classification was officially
changed to State Patrol trooper on September 9, 1966.

Troopers were issued .357 Magnum revolvers beginning in
1966.

The agency established a policy that troopers must wear a
seat belt while on duty in 1967. (Mandatory safety belt use for
all drivers and passengers was not a state law until 1987 in
Wisconsin.)

A communications network was developed and installed in 1967
that equipped all cruisers with receivers and transmitters.

The authorized number of sworn officers was increased to 375
in 1968.

Because of renovations at Fort McCoy, the academy’s training
programs were moved to the campus of Whitewater State University
in 1968.

he first state-owned buildings to house the State
Patrol district functions were constructed. The new District 4
headquarters in Rib Mountain near Wausau opened on May 22,
1968. The facility cost $291,000 and had 12-inch thick walls in
the basement to protect against nuclear fallout.

The Chemical Testing Section was formed in 1968 to test and
evaluate equipment and procedures for detecting motorists’
alcohol levels. The first Chem Test technicians wore State
Patrol uniforms and used squad cars during their work days.

Two broadcasting centers were created in 1969 to blanket the
upper and lower halves of the state. Dispatchers were provided
access to computerized records for determining driver’s license
and vehicle registration directly.

1970-1979

The state’s TIME System linked officers to other law
enforcement agencies in the state beginning in 1972.

The agency suffered its first line of duty death on August
26, 1972, when Trooper Donald Peterson was shot and killed. (In
memoriam)

A new District 3 headquarters facility was built in Fond du
Lac in 1973. The complex cost $552,000.

The agency was the first in the nation to accept credit
cards for traffic violation deposits beginning in 1974.

The first female cadets began training to become State
Patrol officers as members of the 24th Recruit Class at the
academy on March 5, 1975. Advanced planning was needed to ensure
properly fitted uniforms and housing accommodations in the
barracks at Fort McCoy.

A major reorganization in the Wisconsin Department of
Transportation occurred in 1977. The Enforcement and Inspection
Bureau, which had been part of the Motor Vehicle Division since
its inception, became a separate division now called the
Division of Enforcement and Inspection.

Recruit training at the academy was increased to a 22-week
program in 1979.

Officers began to use portable breath alcohol testers on
drivers in 1979. If the test showed a prohibited alcohol content
during a sobriety field test, the driver was transported to a
facility for an evidentiary breath test using a Breathalyzer or
to a medical facility for a blood draw.

1980-1989

The Division of Enforcement and Inspection officially became
the Division of State Patrol on January 15, 1980, to reflect the
agency’s mission and responsibilities.

The State Patrol in 1980 purchased its "red phone" system,
which is a private telephone system connecting the central
headquarters in Madison with the seven district headquarters,
the State Patrol Academy, and the state Division of Emergency
Management.

Trooper Gary Powles was killed in the line of duty from
injuries sustained in a crash on May 18, 1980. (In
memoriam)

The Legislature increased the authorized strength of the
State Patrol from 375 to 400 sworn positions in 1983.

Construction began on a new State Patrol Academy facility at
Fort McCoy in May 1984.

The agency began its participation in the federally funded
Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP) with six
inspectors in 1985.

The .357 Smith & Wesson revolver was replaced with the .9mm
Ruger semi-automatic in 1987.

A new two-person, two desk radio console system became
operational at the District 4 headquarters in Wausau in 1988.
The system contained a teletype machine, typewriter, telephone,
printer, credit card machine, recall recorder for radio and
telephone traffic, citizens band radio, police scanner, personal
computer and microfiche machine.

Trooper Deborah McMenamin was killed in the line of duty on
Oct. 26, 1989. [In
memoriam]

1990-1999

The Computer Aided Radio Log (CARL) developed specifically
for the State Patrol in 1991 enabled dispatchers to use
computerized functions to replace tasks previously completed by
written communications.

In-car videotaping equipment was first installed in cruisers
in 1992 as part of a study to access the system’s effectiveness
and utility. The system cost about $1,650 per cruiser.

A law was enacted that provided troopers and inspectors with
the full enforcement powers of a police officer for Wisconsin
laws in 1993.

Trooper William Schoenberger died on April 22, 1993, from
injuries suffered in the line of duty. (In
memoriam])

A new emergency vehicle operator course (EVOC) opened at the
academy in 1994.

The first mobile computers began to be installed in cruisers
in 1995. By 1999, mobile data computers (MDCs) built by
Panasonic were being used by troopers and inspectors to obtain
critical information about motorists’ licenses and vehicle
registration without having to use voice communications.

The position of State Patrol superintendent was created in
1999. Unlike the previous classification of administrator for
the head of the agency, only a sworn officer could hold the
position of superintendent.

The radio communications program for the Department of
Natural Resources was consolidated with the State Patrol in
1999.

2000-2009

Four full-time positions were added to the State Patrol
Radio Shop in Madison in 2000 to expedite the installation of
communications and other equipment on cruisers.

Police communications operators (PCOs) were authorized in
2000 to wear a distinctive navy colored shirt, which included a
State Patrol patch, while on duty.

Strobe lighting was installed on new cruisers for better
visibility and enhanced safety of officers and motorists in
2000.

Ford Expeditions were issued to 17 motor carrier inspectors
for transportation of heavy equipment in 2001.

A digital communications system replaced the last remaining
microwave path in 2002.

The deadliest crash in Wisconsin history occurred on Oct.
11, 2002, on I-43 in Sheboygan County. Ten people were killed
when heavy fog blanketed the highway leading to a huge pile-up
of vehicles some of which caught fire. State Patrol officers
responded to the scene, and crash reconstructionists spent many
months detailing events in the crash that involved more than 50
vehicles.

As part of its Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program
(MCSAP) initiative, State Patrol hired six consumer protection
investigators and a supervisor in 2002. (These non-sworn
investigators conduct motor carrier safety audits to promote
compliance with state and federal regulations.)

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s Bureau of
Transportation Safety (BOTS) becomes part of the Division of
State Patrol in 2003. A major function of BOTS is disbursing
federal funding for traffic safety enforcement and education
activities statewide.

After testing by State Patrol and other law enforcement
agencies, the new Traffic and Criminal Software (TraCS) rollout
began in June 2005. By using their mobile date computers
equipped with TraCS, State Patrol officers no longer have to
fill out paper forms for crashes, citations and warnings.

The State Patrol’s expertise in using the total station
surveying system to map a crime scene was instrumental in
helping secure a murder conviction of Chai Soua Vang, who shot
and killed six deer hunters and wounded two others in the woods
near Exeland in Sawyer County on Nov. 21, 2004. Vang contended
that he acted in self-defense after the hunters harassed him for
trespassing on their property and then fired a shot at him.
According to William Bremer, the jury foreman, a map of the
crime scene, produced by the State Patrol Northwest Region,
clearly showed jurors that the defendant’s version of what
happened was not credible. The high-profile murder trial
attracted international attention.

To meet the growing demands for the State Patrol’s expertise
in crash reconstruction and forensic mapping, the Technical
Reconstruction Unit (TRU) was formed in 2007. The unit has
continually responded statewide to complex crash scenes and has
been involved in the mapping of numerous high-profile crime
scenes.

From 2007 to 2011, traffic fatalities in Wisconsin declined
to levels not experienced since World War II.

To bolster its criminal interdiction initiative, the K-9
program was instituted, and the first handlers and their K-9
partners were deployed in December 2006. An explosive detection
K-9 team was added in November 2010. he K-9 program is funded
through asset forfeitures from drug arrests. From its inception,
the K-9 teams around the state produced remarkable results. For
example, on Nov. 20, 2007, a K-9 team searched a semi
tractor-trailer unit at the Safety and Weight Enforcement
Facility on I-90 near West Salem. The trained K-9 alerted on a
cardboard box stashed among a load of fresh tomatoes in the
trailer. Inside the box, officers found about 25 pounds of
marijuana. Officers subsequently opened another 14 boxes and
found a total of more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana, which was
one of the largest marijuana seizures ever in western Wisconsin.

The State Patrol launched coordinated responses to
widespread flooding that hit 30 counties in the summer of 2008.
In total, State Patrol officers served more than 9,000 hours in
flood-related duties. Teams of officers surveyed the conditions
of roads, bridges and other infrastructure. They also assisted
with evacuations of residents and provided security for vacated
homes and businesses.

An exhaustive investigation by the Technical Reconstruction
Unit supplied evidence that helped determine multiple homicide
convictions after one of the deadliest drunken driving crashes
in Wisconsin history. On January 18, 2009, Richard Powell was
driving his pick-up truck at a high rate of speed when he
crashed into a sedan at an intersection on US 41 in Marinette
County. The crash killed a father and his four children in the
sedan, including two of his daughters who were pregnant. The
family was traveling to a job as a cleaning crew. Powell plead
no contest to five counts of homicide by intoxicated use of a
motor vehicle with two additional counts for the deaths of the
unborn children read into the record for sentencing.

In 2008 and 2009, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration (FMCSA) presented its Motor Carrier Safety
Assistance Program (MCSAP) Leadership Award for Overall State
Safety Program Performance in the large-state division to the
State Patrol. Overall performance was measured in the areas of
data quality, traffic enforcement, commercial motor vehicle
fatality rate, and state-conducted compliance reviews.

State Patrol Inspector Dan Slick of the Northwest Region -
Spooner Post won the Grand Champion Award at the 2008 North
American Inspectors Championship (NAIC). NAIC contestants were
evaluated in seven categories, and Inspector Slick amassed the
highest cumulative score to earn the Grand Champion title as the
best overall commercial motor vehicle inspector.

The Bureau of Transportation Safety launched a new statewide
traffic safety campaign called Zero In Wisconsin in 2009. The
goal of the campaign is to reduce the number of preventable
traffic deaths to Zero In Wisconsin. (Zero
In Wisconsin campaign)

Trooper Jorge Dimas died on June 14, 2009, of injuries
suffered from a crash in the line of duty. (In
memoriam)

State Patrol assigned a sergeant to work full-time with the
Milwaukee High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) in
2009. The State Patrol sergeant supervises the HIDTA
interdiction effort made up of two State Patrol K-9 teams, three
Milwaukee Police Department officers, a U.S. Postal inspector
and a Coast Guard officer. In partnership with other federal,
state and local law enforcement agencies, HIDTA dismantles and
disrupts drug-trafficking operations in Milwaukee, Racine,
Kenosha, Waukesha, Rock, Dane and Brown counties.

2010 to present

K-9 teams conducted 1,406 searches in 2010 that resulted in
535 seizures of marijuana, other drugs, and illegal weapons in
2010. In addition, a total of $883,394 in U.S. currency from
drug-related offenses was seized in 2010.

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